GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Directors of the Hope Florida Foundation cut a Zoom board meeting short Thursday morning after online trolls began spewing racial slurs, Nazi symbols and pornographic imagery on the open call, derailing the foundation's first public comment since its executive director stepped down Wednesday amid a slew of ongoing legislative controversy.
"Today, my focus as chairman is to restore confidence in … the Hope Florida program," chairman Joshua Hays said in his opening remarks.
Thirty minutes into the proceedings, however, a participant interrupted the call by repeating a racial slur, advocating the death of all Black individuals. The hijacking quickly escalated as an audience member began sharing his screen to display swastikas and other inappropriate images.
Officials scrambled to regain control of the call but struggled to identify how to boot the offender from the Zoom or prevent audience screen sharing. The video paused multiple times as a screen reading, "Technical difficulties. Please stand by" displayed, until the proceedings officially terminated at 10:41 a.m., according to the Florida Channel's live stream schedule. The meeting ended 19 minutes early.
The foundation issued, and later removed, the following statement: "We apologize for the earlier disruption to the public meeting. The Department of Children and Families is actively working to address the incident. Please monitor this website for information on when the meeting, which is currently in recess, will reconvene and for an updated link."
The meeting marked an attempt by the board to provide clarity as House Republicans probe a $10 million donation that Hope Florida, a charity and welfare program spearheaded by First Lady Casey DeSantis, received from a Medicaid settlement in October. Lawmakers are now investigating whether the foundation funneled those millions to political campaigns against the failed ballot referendum to legalize recreational marijuana.
Hope Florida launched in 2021 as a program to connect Floridians in need of social and financial help to private sector groups, faith-based organizations and nonprofits, weaning them off government assistance.
The foundation's executive director, Erik Dellenback, announced his resignation a day after legislators grilled the foundation's leaders about the donation funds during a House budget committee meeting.
The Tampa Bay Times reported that Hope Florida split the $10 million evenly between Secure Florida's Future and Save Our Society from Drugs — organizations that promptly poured a collective $8.5 million into Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee created to defeat Amendment 3 and run by Gov. Ron DeSantis' then-chief of staff James Uthmeier.
Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, who chairs the House Healthcare Budget Subcommittee and has led the investigation into Hope Florida, offered a public comment during the board meeting, prior to the disruptions.
Andrade advised the board to recoup the millions given to Secure Florida's Future and Save Our Society or risk "run[ning] afoul of IRS requirements" and jeopardizing its nonprofit status.
An hour after the meeting ended, Andrade reposted an article on X about the meeting's graphic takeover by trolls, commenting "Mortifying."
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